Educational Media Reviews Online

This documentary concentrates on interviews and views of contaminated air, soil, and water in Shanxi Province, China, to explore citizens’ efforts to enforce Chinese environmental regulations in local factories. In general, though industries are sympathetic to following the rules, there is a strong tendency to favor profits over compliance. Though the people feel somewhat powerless on their own, as they become organized they are sometimes able to partner with local officials to exert influence over the polluters. In other cases, local officials are firmly on the side of the polluting corporations. Bribery is suspected.

The quality of the video is excellent as can be expected from a major public television network. This offering was originally produced for Televisió de Catalunya’s TV3’s 30 Minuts program (series?) in Catalan. It is unclear from the credits where responsibilities for the English language narration and subtitles lie. Both are excellent. It’s hoped that increasing numbers of these high quality, topical, translated productions will be picked up by Filmakers Library or other distributors.

This video is highly recommended in support of high school and college curricula in Asian Studies and Environmental Studies. Environmental concerns have been much on the minds of the Chinese people in recent years resulting in several large protests in the industrial areas. Though the air pollution in Beijing was moderated through factory closings and restrictions on automotive traffic for the recent Olympics, pollution remains a huge problem for China. The environmental and societal costs of continued industrial and economic expansion will need to be reckoned, compromises made, new developments moderated and displaced citizens compensated. This short video provides a good starting place from which to observe and discuss the evolution of China’s society and industry over the coming decades as China confronts the challenge of its environment.